Michelle Obama Hosts First White House Dance Event

Michelle Obama Hosts First White House Dance Event

Published September 7, 2010

WASHINGTON (AP) — The stately White House East Room, home to many a bill signing and ceremonial gathering, becomes a stage Tuesday for pirouettes, jetes, gravity-defying leaps and maybe even some bumps and grinds as Michelle Obama inaugurates a new dance series.

Dancers of all types — ballet, modern, hip hop and Broadway — take over the room, first for an afternoon workshop, during which students from around the country will have the chance to work with some of the biggest names in dance.

Then, after a short break, the students return to see their mentors perform in an hour-long, star-studded show. Even Broadway's young "Billy Elliot" will be there — four Billys actually, from the show's rotating cast.

But the main attraction is the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and that's because its celebrated artistic director, Judith Jamison, soon to retire after two decades in the job, is the honoree of the event.

"What a rare opportunity, to be invited by your country's first lady to be honored like this," Jamison said in a weekend interview. "I've been to the White House a couple of times before, but this event is totally unique. It's so terribly important to recognize this art form and to understand how important it is to the fabric of this country."

"This will be another clarion call to people: Pay attention to your arts!" Jamison said. "My dancers are so excited."

The 67-year-old Jamison is an icon of the dance world. She joined the Ailey company in 1965 and became the choreographer's muse, her dramatic power as a dancer epitomized in the unforgettable 1971 solo piece "Cry." In 1989, after Ailey's death, she took over as artistic director. She is scheduled to step down in 2011.

Tuesday's program is directed by Damian Woetzel, the recently retired star of the New York City Ballet who is on the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He had a dizzying array of choices from which to cull an hour of the country's best dance. And he said it wasn't exactly hard to find dancers, no matter that the event comes just after a summer vacation weekend.

"Everyone was so excited to be a part of this," Woetzel said in an interview. "It's really an exciting opportunity to present the variety of dance in this country. And the student component makes it especially unique. It's a great way to start the school year."

Though the Obamas have spotlighted many varieties of music since they came to the White House — there have been events celebrating Latin music, rock, jazz, country, classical and Broadway show tunes — the dance world might have felt ignored, until now.

But Michelle Obama seems to be a dance fan. Jamison noted proudly that the Obamas and their daughters spent one of their first nights out as first family taking in an Ailey performance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

"They came backstage, took pictures — the dancers were thrilled," she said.

Also on the program Tuesday: the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Broadway's "Billy Elliot the Musical," The Washington Ballet, Super Cr3w and the New York City Ballet.

The students are from dance schools around the country: The Alvin Ailey School, Ballet Hispanico, Cab Calloway School of the Arts, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Chicago Multicultural Dance Center and others